Becoming Steve Jobs: How a reckless upstart became a visionary leader

We all think we know who Steve Jobs was, what made him tick, and what made him succeed. Yet the single most important question about him has never been answered. The young, impulsive, egotistical genius was ousted in the mid-'80s from the company he founded, exiled from his own kingdom and cast into the wilderness. Yet he returned a decade later to transform the ailing Apple into the most successful company the world had ever seen.

The Intelligent Entrepreneur

In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates - two men and one woman - turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their 10-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They'd made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs and left their mark on the world. The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders did it.

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds

TED talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking around the world. TED and associated Tedx conferences are held in more than 130 countries and are being viewed at a rate of 1.5 million times a day. These are presentations that set the world on fire, and the techniques that top TED speakers use are the same ones that will make any presentation more dynamic....

The 50th Law

The 50th Law, combines the unique talents of hip hop and pop culture icon 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) and Robert Greene, best-selling author of The 48 Laws of Power. This is a "bible" for success in life and work based on a single principle: fear nothing. Containing intimate stories from 50 Cent's life on the streets and in the boardroom; his rise to worldwide fame and acclaim after the release of his album Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs

In The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs, best-selling author Carmine Gallo reveals the qualities that make the Apple co-founder the most innovative leader in business today. Each principle is backed with research, quotes, and first-person interviews with experts and business leaders, as well as specific ideas for applying those principles to every business, large or small.

How Google Works

Both Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg came to Google as seasoned Silicon Valley business executives, but over the course of a decade they came to see the wisdom in Coach John Wooden's observation that 'it's what you learn after you know it all that counts'. As they helped grow Google from a young start-up to a global icon, they relearned everything they knew about management.

The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure

Extreme success, by definition, lies beyond the realm of normal action. If you want to achieve extreme success, you can't operate like everybody else and settle for mediocrity. You need to remove luck and chance from your business equation, and lock in massive success. The 10X Rule shows you how!

Elon Musk

South African-born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these things; and he wants us all to know about it. He is the real-life inspiration for the Iron Man series of films starring Robert Downey, Jr. The personal tale of Musk's life comes with all the trappings one associates with a great, drama-filled story.

A Life Worth Breathing: A Yoga Master's Handbook of Strength, Grace, and Healing

We can do more with this life. We all know it, we all wish for it, but just how to do itthat eludes us. In his new book, A Life Worth Breathing, internationally renowned yoga teacher and spiritual philosopher Max Strom shows us the way. His groundbreaking book reaches past expected dogma in a language that is vital, inspired, and accessible. Strom leads us on a journey of self-discovery as we excavate our past in order to have a better understanding of our present.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography

In Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, Walter Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs' professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs' family members and key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, this is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation.

What does it take to lead a team to world-class success over a sustained period of time?Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the few leaders who truly knows. In his 38 years in management, Sir Alex won an astonishing 49 trophies and helped grow Manchester United into one of the biggest commercial brands in the world. In this inspirational and straight-talking new book, Sir Alex reveals the secrets behind his record-breaking career..

I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

Comparing Google to an ordinary business is like comparing a rocket to an Edsel. No academic analysis or bystanders account can capture it. Now Doug Edwards, Employee Number 59, offers the first inside view of Google, giving readers a chance to fully experience the bizarre mix of camaraderie and competition at this phenomenal company. I'm Feeling Lucky captures for the first time the unique, self-invented, yet profoundly important culture of the world's most transformative corporation.

Life Leverage: How to Get More Done in Less Time, Outsource Everything & Create Your Ideal Mobile Lifestyle

The Life Leverage philosophy is a way of living your life to get more done in less time, outsource everything and create your ideal mobile lifestyle. It is a way of thinking, feeling, deciding, doing, and then getting the results and feedback accordingly to build momentum and get closer to your vision and legacy.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

Whether he was introducing the latest iPad or delivering a keynote presentation, Steve Jobs electrified audiences with his incomparable style and showmanship. He didn't just convey information in his presentations; he told a story, painted a picture, and shared a vision. He gave his audience a transformative experience that was unique, inspiring, and unforgettable. Now you can do it too, by learning the specific techniques that made Jobs the most captivating communicator on the world stage.

Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You

Don't fight for customers; let them fight over you! Have you ever queued for a restaurant? Preordered something months in advance? Fought for tickets that sell out in a day? Had a hairdresser with a six-month waiting list? There are people who don't chase clients; clients chase them. In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book months in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand?

Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever. These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life.

The 4-Hour Work Week

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan - there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint. Includes more than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled their income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point.

Winners: And How They Succeed

The Sunday Times number-one best seller. How people succeed and how you can, too. Alastair Campbell knows all about winning. As Tony Blair's chief spokesman and strategist, he helped guide the Labour Party to victory in three successive general elections, and he's fascinated by what it takes to win. How do sports stars excel, entrepreneurs thrive, or individuals achieve their ambitions? Is their ability to win innate? Or is the winning mind-set something we can all develop?

Leading at a Higher Level

In Leading at a Higher Level, Blanchard and his colleagues have brought together everything they've learned about world-class leadership. You'll discover how to create targets and visions based on the "triple bottom line", and how to make sure people know who you are, where you're going, and what will guide your journey. Blanchard then turns to your customer, extending his breakthrough work on delivering legendary service, creating "raving fans", and developing a true "customer mania".

In Inside Apple, Adam Lashinsky provides listeners with insight on leadership and innovation. He introduces Apple business concepts, such as the 'DRI' (Apple's practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual event at which that year's top 100 up-and-coming executives were surreptitiously transported to a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs).

What You Need to Know About: Business

Business is big. Actually, it's often small and medium-sized too. But the point is that it matters - a lot. This book is designed to answer all those confusing questions that flit through your mind when you get to the business pages of the paper, and stop you from being embarrassed in job interviews.

Good Ideas: How to Be Your Child's (and Your Own) Best Teacher

Learning can be much more fun - and former children's laureate, million-selling author, broadcaster, father of five, and all-round national treasure Michael Rosen wants to show you how. We live in a world surrounded by all the stuff that education is supposed to be about: machines, bodies, languages, cities, votes, mountains, energy, movement, plays, food, liquids, collisions, protests, stones, windows.

Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

Before it was a religion, a culture, or even a system of meditation, what was Buddhism? On Buddhism Without Beliefs, celebrated teacher, translator, and former Buddhist monk Stephen Batchelor takes us back to the first years after the Buddha's awakening to reveal the root insights of Buddhism hidden beneath centuries of history and interpretation.

Harvard Business School Confidential: Secrets of Success

Harvard Business School is the iconic business school. An admission ticket to HBS is a hot commodity and an HBS degree is highly respected in the business world. This book, written by an HBS grad and seasoned businesswoman, tells you why. It is a distillation of the most valuable and pragmatic but yet easiest to learn concepts taught at HBS.

Publisher's Summary

In iLeadership, Jay Elliot gives the listener the opportunity of seeing Steve Jobs as only his closest associates have ever seen him, and to learn what has made him - and the mystique of his management style - capable of creating tools so extraordinary that they have remade three industries and have transformed the way we create, consume, and communicate with each other.

Jay Elliot worked side by side with Steve as Senior Vice President of Apple and brings us his deep insider perspective of Steve's singular iLeadership style - which encompasses four major principles: product, talent, organization, and marketing.

Jay shares the lessons that come out of Steve's intuitive approach to show how the creative and technological brilliance of iLeadership can be utilized to drive breakthroughs in any organization, irrespective of size.

What the Critics Say

"There have been so many books about Steve Jobs but none that have the vantage point of an insider like this one. The narrative is very engaging and I could not stop reading.... Jay has done a fantastic job to provide insights that we all can use from the man who has inspired two generations of entrepreneurs." (Naeem Zafar, Lecturer, Entrepreneurship, University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business)

"Steve Jobs is a revolutionary leader and thinker who has been written about by many people. But for the first time, in The Steve Jobs Way, Jay Elliot brings a deep, insider perspective of Steve Jobs' unique leadership style, which has forever changed our everyday lives and the world around us." (Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks Coffee International and author of It's Not About the Coffee)

"Christopher Hurt gives an outstanding narration of this insider's analysis of Steve Jobs's one-of-a-kind leadership at Apple. Hurt's casual gravitas is perfect for an analytic business biography; he's superb at using his vocal tone and phrasing to emphasize crucial points." (AudioFile)

Steve leads his industry with creativity, energy and courage. He keeps creating new products and generating new ideas, eventhough he is already very wealthy and probably doesn't need the additional income. Computing and telecommunication is so much more fun with his company Apple intensifying competition with new products such as i-tune, touch phone and tablets.

Being an Apple product user as well as being aware of Jobs' status as an inspirational leader, I thought I would use one of my Audible credits on this and was not disappointed. New to management and leadership, I found the insights into Jobs from someone who knew him well and worked with him closely fascinating. Despite not being in a product-producing company (I work in Education), I was made to re-evaluate my approach to my role, its significance and my attitude towards it. The performance of the book was excellent too, making it a great purchase.

The title obviously suggest that there will be "Steve worshipping" (so not for those allergic to Steve) but there are some valuable lessons to be learnt here, which I think can benefit everyone who manages a brand/ product, even if it is open source..I disagree with author's minor android and windows bashing though.

This book has great content. It is very interesting to see the intensity and attention to details that Jobs put into his work and how that affected the outcome of his product. His unrelenting drive to deliver a product that he himself and his customers would love is what has made Apple the success it is.

The downside of this book is that it is a worship book about Steve Jobs. Several times while listening I almost gave up and stopped listening because it made me sick to keep hearing this man praised over and over. He does deserve a lot of credit for persevering but to go on and on over how wonderful he is was way over the top. Have a listen to this book but be sure to keep a bucket nearby!

Because this book is an overview of how Steve Jobs build Apple to be one of the largest companies in the world it is interesting for the entire book. I find books about leadership principles can get very repetitive very quickly.

Jay Elliot, a former Apple executive, takes us along on the intriguing journey of Apple's growth. We learn from observing Steve Jobs' charismatic leadership style, his successes and his failures along the way. Definitely worth a read/listen for some inspiration on how you will "make a dent in the universe" (as Steve Jobs would say).

Unlike most other books about Steve Jobs (I have read or listened to most of them), this one is written by someone who has actually worked with him. Bringing out a more human side of Jobs. Prior to this book, from movies like Pirates of Silicon Valley and other biographies (like iCon and the 2nd coming of SJ), I've always thought of Jobs as an egotistic monster in the early days of Apple, this book painted a different kind of young Jobs, filled with good intentions and high minded ideas, and states that it was actually Jobs himself who decided to leave Apple instead of being fired by the Apple board. I find Mr. Elliot's approach of tying Steve's action with his iLeadership best practices points slightly distracting. Still overall, I highly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to all who is really fascinated about Steve Job.

28 of 28 people found this review helpful

Courtney

Tucker, GA, United States

13/04/11

Overall

"In the presence of greatness"

There is no substitute for working with a genius on a daily basis. Everything I have read about Steve Jobs is from the outside - from somebody who has done interviews and research. This book is from a man who observed the daily working habits and decision making process of one of the most creative and brilliant men of our generation. Until the authorized biography of Jobs is released in 2012 - this is the best book about the man himself.

14 of 14 people found this review helpful

dr Frank

Beaver Falls, PA, United States

14/03/11

Overall

"Excellent book about an icon"

This is an excellent book about an icon in the technology and consumer products world. I have watched Apple and Steve Jobs since I bought my first Apple product in the 80's (Apple IIC & Macintosh). A few of the items discussed in the book clarified misconceptions and questions not only about Steve Jobs but about Apple and its products and services. Overall, not only was it enjoyable but it was enlightening. In addition, I learned different key points about entrepreneurship and leadership.

It is written from the perspective of a friend, employee, and co-worker. Much different than other books and articles that were written from a media perspective only.

The book held my interest to the end and I highly recommend it!

29 of 30 people found this review helpful

alab

Philippines

01/04/11

Overall

"A Great Audiobook on Leadership"

This is my favorite audiobook so far as it brings us up close and personal on how Apple runs its business and particularly how Steve Jobs waves his baton as the ultimate conductor of Apple.

The details & lessons one can pick up from The Steve Jobs Way is helpful to aspiring entrepreneurs of all races and ages.

The Steve Jobs Way has great insights on leadership, the value of the customer, human relations and the importance of a business vision to name a few and is definitely a must listen and a must read.

Most of us aspire to have an organization of Apple's caliber and quality and this is the measuring stick we should level up to.

I will definitely be listening to this over and over again as a reference.

Great job Jay Eliot!

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

FRESNO, CA, United States

04/06/11

Overall

"ILeadership will help your leadership"

This was my first audio book in years, I started a 45 minute commute to work and needed something other then endless drone of the radio. I picked this book because of the reviews and because I wanted to learn something of Jobs and Apple. What I gained was an insight into the way Jobs thinks and his leadership style, his attention to detail and his unique understanding of the customer. I am self employed and have been the opposite of a detailed person for most of my business life, but after listening to this book I realize
that I need to get more detailed, for the details are what make a product good or just mediocre.
Hurt was a good narrator, I enjoyed his style but the book seemed to jump around sometimes, wondering off if different directions but I was sorry to come to the end of it, as I am with any good book and I will listen to it again.
I would recommend this to anyone who is in business, or just has an interest
in Apple. In fact, I am typing this on an iPad that I just got after listening to the book. I had wanted the iPad since it first came out but after listening to this book I wanted to visit the Apple store and see how they did things, how they
merchandise the store and how the whole thing integrated with the customer. I felt I could learn from what they did.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Luis Alejandro Lopez

02/05/11

Overall

"A must for entrepenuers"

This a very well written book, and awesomely read by Mr. Hurt. Every chapter is a learning experience for your business. I've been entertained by anecdotes and been applying them for my business every day.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Michael J

Glen Gardner, NJ, United States

17/04/11

Overall

"This is an Excellent Book!"

I felt that this was a very good depiction of Steve Jobs and on how his way of thinking! I felt like I got a inside look of the Man behind Apple!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Beedo

WHEELING, IL, United States

04/05/11

Overall

"Very inspiriting and informative"

you really get a sense of who Steve Jobs is and how much details he puts into his products. Made me want to purchase an Apple product!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Shawn

Sun Valley, CA, United States

08/12/11

Overall

Performance

Story

"An inspiring man. An uninspired book."

I was intrigued by this title because of the author's early connection with Jobs at Apple. I hoped for some new and seldom-before-heard information. There is some of that here, but hardly what one would wish for and often frustratingly short of details. The book seems dashed off with little to no editorial oversight and is consequently rife with errors that even the most cursory fact-checking would have brought to light. Steve Jobs gave the Commencement Address at Stanford University in 2005, yet the author repeatedly refers to this event as having taken place in 2009. Video of that address was uploaded to YouTube by the 'StanfordUniversity' account on March 7, 2008, so draw your own conclusions. Just one example, but it seriously undermines the author's credibility. If he can't get this right, what else is just plain wrong? I had to keep fighting off the feeling that this was just an opportunistic exercise intended to cash-in on the well-deserved fame of Mr. Jobs by way of a long-ago association. Had it been released subsequent to his death, my distaste at this would have kept me away. As it was, it nagged at me throughout. Also, worth noting that the book is fawning toward Mr. Jobs in the extreme. It borders on the saccharine throughout.

Finally, worth noting that the narration is only adequate. Sometimes I felt the reader's intonation or cadence was jarringly different than what I perceived the writer's tone to be.

All-in-all, a mediocre affair and a slight disappointment.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Rasheed

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

05/06/11

Overall

"Worth Hearing It"

Being a novice enterprenuer, I have listened to every bit of this audio book. It has changed my present attitude towards approaching a task. Steve's comments like "pirates not navy" have really thrilled me. His detail-oriented style has resulted in fantasitc 'i' products . His "Blue Fish" dinner with Sony chief was exciting!. Current management style needs a re-vist by following Stevian approach. Thanks to Jay Elliot such a marvelous book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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